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Asylum Seekers Arrived, Elites Occupied the Air: Topics and Interviewees in YLE’s Magazine Programmes During the “Asylum-Seeker Crisis”

Asylum Seekers Arrived, Elites Occupied the Air: Topics and Interviewees in YLE’s Magazine... AbstractIn this study, we examine the choice of interviewees and discussion topics made by Finland’s national broadcasting company YLE during the so-called “asylum-seeker crisis” of 2015 and 2016. The rapid increase in asylum-seekers, combined with deepening political tensions regarding the situation and the entry of a populist anti-immigration party into government, created a challenging environment for the media. This was especially true for YLE, which is committed to political neutrality and cultural diversity. Our data shows that the “crisis” was framed as a crisis hitting Finland and European decision-making rather than as a humanitarian crisis. Despite long-term academic criticism of bias in expert interviewee selection (e.g. the underrepresentation of minority and female interviewees), the media continued to use traditional sources of knowledge. However, in a novel approach for Finland, the media engaged the large-scale involvement of politicians, and especially representatives of the populist Finns Party. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nordicom Review de Gruyter

Asylum Seekers Arrived, Elites Occupied the Air: Topics and Interviewees in YLE’s Magazine Programmes During the “Asylum-Seeker Crisis”

Perälä, Annu; Niemi, Mari K.
Nordicom Review , Volume 39 (2): 15 – Dec 1, 2018
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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
© 2018 Annu Perälä et al., published by Sciendo
ISSN
2001-5119
eISSN
2001-5119
DOI
10.2478/nor-2018-0013
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, we examine the choice of interviewees and discussion topics made by Finland’s national broadcasting company YLE during the so-called “asylum-seeker crisis” of 2015 and 2016. The rapid increase in asylum-seekers, combined with deepening political tensions regarding the situation and the entry of a populist anti-immigration party into government, created a challenging environment for the media. This was especially true for YLE, which is committed to political neutrality and cultural diversity. Our data shows that the “crisis” was framed as a crisis hitting Finland and European decision-making rather than as a humanitarian crisis. Despite long-term academic criticism of bias in expert interviewee selection (e.g. the underrepresentation of minority and female interviewees), the media continued to use traditional sources of knowledge. However, in a novel approach for Finland, the media engaged the large-scale involvement of politicians, and especially representatives of the populist Finns Party.

Journal

Nordicom Review – de Gruyter

Published: Dec 1, 2018

Keywords: asylum-seekers; Finland; framing; news source; public expertise

References

  • Ethics, Politics and Migration: Public Debates on the Free Movement of Romanians and Bulgarians in the UK, 2006–2013
  • Immigration, Issue Ownership and the Rise of UKIP
  • Gendered Use of Experts in the Media: Analysis of the Gender Gap in Finnish News Journalism
  • “Unwanted Invaders”: The Representation of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK and Australian Print Media